page_title: Barranquilla
section_title: Origins and colonial era
hierarchical_section_title: Barranquilla / History / Origins and colonial era
caption_attribution_description: Español: Placa informativa en la ciudad de Barranquilla.
context_page_description: Barranquilla is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and second port in the northern Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319 making it Colombia's fourth-most populous city after Bogotá, Medellín and Cali.
  Barranquilla lies strategically next to the delta of the Magdalena River, 7.5 kilometres from its mouth at the Caribbean Sea, serving as a port for river and maritime transportation within Colombia. It is also the main industrial, shopping, educational and cultural center of the Caribbean Region of Colombia. The city is the core of the Metropolitan Area of Barranquilla, with a population close to 2.4 million inhabitants, which also includes the municipalities of Soledad, Galapa, Malambo, and Puerto Colombia.
  Barranquilla was legally established as a town on April 7, 1813, although it dates from at least 1629. It grew into an important port, serving as a haven for immigrants from Europe, especially during and immediately following World War I and World War II, when waves of additional immigrants from the Middle East and Asia arrived.
context_section_description: Unlike other cities in Colombia such as Cartagena or Bogotá D.C., Barranquilla was not founded during the Spanish colonial period and it was not founded on a pre-Columbian site. The first mention of the current territory of Barranquilla dates back to 1533 and was written by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés. He describes the route of Pedro de Heredia, founder of Cartagena, just weeks before he founded that city, and says that this was a point of landing of canoes for the Indians of Santa Marta within the interior. They had two canoes full of dried shrimp as merchandise and went to the Magdalena River to trade with this commodity, salt and other things. However, the Kamash Indians were known to occupy the area and the settlement itself was established in about 1629. For this reason the city does not celebrate its foundation, but rather the date in which it was declared a town on April 7, 1813.
  Barranquilla is best known as The Golden Gate of Colombia (La Puerta de Oro de Colombia) because its location north of Colombia and it is the most important maritime port of The Republic of Colombia. Barranquilla is honored as the origination of the aviation and airport. The first airline in South America was born in Barranquilla with the name of SCADTA which is today Avianca.
  Nevertheless, the home location of the Kamash indios (hispanized to Camacho or Camach) is known as the first permanent human settlement of Barranquilla. During the 16th century, an encomienda of captain Domingo de Santa Cruz was established, granted by the Spanish crown for his notable military performance. This encomienda disappeared in 1559, when it was in the hands of señora Ana Ximénez, widow of Santa Cruz, after the death of her husband. She became the victim of a disregardful violent act by the second encomendero of Galapa, don Pedro de Barros I, when he arbitrarily grabbed all the Camacho population that could offer labour and took them to his encomienda.
  Between 1627 and 1637, Hacienda San Nicolás de Tolentino was founded by Nicolás de Barros, great-grandson of Don Pedro de Barros I. The farm was established on the banks of the river channel. The original property area was 24.78 square kilometres (9.57 sq mi). Pedro Vasquez Buezo expanded the property to 41.3 square kilometres (15.9 sq mi). On this estate, Barros allowed his workers to build their homes and support their families, which helped further develop his field operations. After the death of Barros, the estate began to accommodate others, such as people who for reasons of health, age or cronyism with the hacienda owner were allowed to stay. There were also Indians from Malambo and Galapa. By 1681, the ranch was considered a village, known as Barrancas de San Nicolas. Before 1700, Barranquilla was occupied by Aguerra of Tierradentro and in 1772, the township was expanded by the same group, adding a Judge Counsel.
  The origin of Barranquilla, promoted in the second half of the 19th century by the historian Domingo Malabet, was not supported by oral tradition nor scientifically validated. The work of B. J. A. Blanco, El norte de Tierradentro y los orígenes de Barranquilla: Estudios y documentos para una geografía histórica del Departamento del Atlántico ("Northern Tierradentro and the origins of Barranquilla") (1987), argued that Barranquilla had been founded by farmers from the neighboring town of Galapa who left their land, following their herds to the Magdalena River.
caption: Plaque on the block where people began to populate Barranquilla.
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